Community Development

Healthy Communities: The Intersection of Community Development and Health

The Healthy Communities Resource Center is a clearinghouse of information on Healthy Communities—the intersection of community development and health.

Learn more about what leading practitioners and researchers are doing in the Healthy Communities movement by reading this Center’s publications and PowerPoint presentations, listening to its podcasts, watching its videos and visiting the websites below.

About

Presentations

Topics

Web Resources

White Papers

CRA

About Healthy Communities

What is “Healthy Communities”?
Healthy Communities is the space in which the community development, economic development, public health and health care industries collaborate to reduce persistent health inequalities and create healthier communities for all.

Why the Dallas Fed is involved in Healthy Communities
At the Dallas Fed’s Community Development Office, our role is to support the Federal Reserve System’s economic growth objectives by promoting community and economic development and fair and impartial access to credit. Our constituents serve low- and moderate-income individuals, often by providing or facilitating affordable housing, personal financial products and services, small business development products and services and community facilities.

The individuals community developers reach are the same individuals who face major health disparities. While access to health care is one component that explains these disparities, the social determinants of health—where people work, live, learn and play—can play a strong role as well. The more opportunities individuals have to make healthy choices, the more likely they can live longer and healthier lives. These social determinants of health are the nexus of the community development and health sector’s joint interests. It is in this space that collaboration is imperative. And the health of our country and economy depend on it: in general, wealthier people are healthier and healthier people are more economically productive.

Join the Healthy Communities Conversation

Presentations

The Federal Reserve System has been convening leaders from the community development, economic development, public health and health care industries to discuss collaborations to reduce health disparities and create healthier communities for all. On September 28, 2011 the Dallas Fed and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation co-hosted “Healthy Communities: the Intersection of Community Development and Health.” Following are speakers’ presentations.

Asset Building and the Wealth Gap
This issue of Banking and Community Perspectives identifies trends in American households’ wealth, shows its disparities among demographic groups, and spotlights the challenges Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico households face in building and sustaining their assets. “Asset Building and the Wealth Gap,” Elizabeth Sobel Blum, Banking and Community Perspectives, Issue 3, 2006.

Asset Building Taking Root in Rural Communities
This issue of Banking and highlights the environment around rural asset building, points to valuable resources and showcases some initiatives taking root that foster economic growth, prosperity and self-sustainability. “Asset Building Taking Root in Rural Communities,” Roy Lopez, Banking and Community Perspectives, Issue 1, 2011.

Building Healthier Communities from the Ground Up
This issue of Banking and focuses on some nonlegislative efforts to foster healthier communities, particularly in low- and moderate-income areas. These efforts are led by both public and private organizations across the Federal Reserve’s Eleventh District.“Building Healthier Communities from the Ground Up,” Elizabeth Sobel Blum, Banking and Community Perspectives, Issue 2, 2010.

For most Americans, home represents a place of safety, security, and shelter—and it often represents a family’s greatest single expenditure. Factors related to housing can help—or harm—health. Learn more

Workplace exposures can affect health, but the workplace also can be a place to promote healthy activities and behaviors. Learn more

Resources on the Web

Commission to Build a Healthier America
The Commission has investigated why Americans aren’t as healthy as they could be and looked outside the health care system for ways to improve health for all. From February 2008 to December 2009, the Commission studied prevention, wellness and the broader factors that influence good health—conducting site visits, hearing testimony from experts, and issuing 10 recommendations to dramatically improve health for all Americans. See their recommendations

County Health Calculator: How Do Your State and County Compare?
See how many deaths could be averted in your county if education and income levels were different. Find your county

County Health Rankings
This website provides access to 50 state reports that rank each county according to its health outcomes and the multiple health factors that determine a county’s health. Learn more

Food Desert Locator
Get a spatial overview of low-income neighborhoods with high concentrations of people who are far from a grocery store. Learn more

Health Impact Project: Advancing Smarter Policies for Healthier Communities
This project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, is a national initiative designed to promote the use of health impact assessments (HIAs) as a decisionmaking tool for policymakers. HIAs use a flexible, data-driven approach that identifies the health consequences of new policies and develops practical strategies to enhance their health benefits and minimize adverse effects. Learn more

Healthy Communities: A Framework for Meeting CRA Obligations
CRA and compliance officers at financial institutions are responsible for making complex decisions about how to invest in community development to meet their CRA obligations. This publication provides a roadmap of best practices in community development and a healthy communities framework that highlights the types of investments that are valuable both to financial institutions and their target communities. It also includes reference guides for ensuring planned CRA activities meet regulatory requirements and a template for how financial institutions can tell their CRA story. Learn more

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
This foundation conducts health policy analysis, serves as a clearinghouse of news and information for the health policy community and helps run large public health information campaigns. Learn more

NewPublicHealth
This blog is designed to spark an ongoing conversation about public health challenges, opportunities, evidence, solutions and innovations. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation invites and encourages active participation. Visit NewPublicHealth

Opportunity Finance NetworkOpportunity Finance Network (OFN) is the national network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)—private financial institutions that are 100 percent dedicated to delivering responsible, affordable lending in order to help low-income, low-wealth and other disadvantaged people and communities join the economic mainstream. Learn more

RAISE Texas
RAISE Texas is a statewide network of nonprofit organizations, for-profit corporations, and public institutions working to support and expand asset-building activities in Texas, with a particular focus on low- and moderate-income families and areas. Learn more.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. For information on its program areas, publications and research, health policy data, grants and related topics, visit the website.

What Shapes Health?
This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation online resource lists how the following topics shape health: early childhood experiences, stress, race and socioeconomic factors, education, income and wealth, work, neighborhoods, housing, violence and social disadvantage. Learn more

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

“There is a symbiotic relationship between the health and resilience of a country’s economy, and the health and resilience of a country’s people. This publication is important because it provides strategic direction to financial institutions on how to invest in healthy communities, and how to communicate the value of these investments to stakeholders.”
—Richard W. Fisher
President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

CRA and compliance officers at financial institutions are responsible for making complex decisions about how to invest in community development to meet their CRA obligations. This publication provides a roadmap of best practices in community development and a healthy communities framework that highlights the types of investments that are valuable both to financial institutions and their target communities. It also includes reference guides for ensuring planned CRA activities meet regulatory requirements and a template for how financial institutions can tell their CRA story.